A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled to restrict women’s access to the abortion pill mifepristone, partially upholding a lower court decision that imposed restrictions to women’s access to the commonly used pill and setting up a potential high-stakes ruling by the Supreme Court, though the pill will remain on the market for now.
Packages of Mifepristone tablets.
The Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, which upholds the Food and Drug Administration’s 23-year-old approval of the pill, comes three months after the Supreme Court blocked a controversial lower court decision challenging access to mifepristone, one of two pills commonly used in U.S. abortions, along with misoprostol.
The ruling also comes just over a month after the Food and Drug Administration approved drugmaker HRA Pharma’s daily over-the-counter birth control pill, marketed as Opill–the FDA’s first ever ever approval of an over-the-counter birth control pill, 50 years after the pill received approval for prescription use.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
FDA Approves 1st Over-The-Counter Birth Control Pill (Forbes)